10 Day Week

Most of our calendaric time frames have some basis in nature. The year is based on the time it takes to revolve around the sun. The month is (loosely) based on the time the moon takes to revolve around the Earth. The day is based on the amount of time it takes the Earth to rotate once. Why, then, do we stick with a 7 day model for the week, one which is completely arbitrary and doesn't divide comfortably into any of the other measurements?

Why don't we instead have a 10 day week? It would divide comfortably into a 30 day month, by having 3 weeks a month. You would have 36 weeks in a year, with 5 "leap weeks," months where 1 of the weeks would have 11 days, with the extra being a day off. The work week could be 4 days of work, 1 day of rest, then 3 days of work and 2 days of rest. I think breaking the work week up a bit like that would enable people to recharge their batteries partway into the week and get their thoughts in order. It would give students a day for study in the middle of the week if they felt the need to catch up. You would have "mid week," and "week end."

The 10 day week system would have 252 work days per year, before national holidays. The current 7 day system has 260.71 work days per year before national holidays. That number would be even closer if several of the national holidays were held on "leap weeks."

Anyone else like this idea?

'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Damn, I'm so accustomed to the general 5 on, 2 off rhythm that it'd be almost impossible for me to break. Well, I suppose I do for vacations, and I work about one weekend a month, but the general pattern is still lodged in my head.

The reason for the 7 day week is almost entirely an artifact of ancient Semitic and Christian cultures using it, right?

Damn, I'm so accustomed to the general 5 on, 2 off rhythm that it'd be almost impossible for me to break. Well, I suppose I do for vacations, and I work about one weekend a month, but the general pattern is still lodged in my head.

The reason for the 7 day week is almost entirely an artifact of ancient Semitic and Christian cultures using it, right?

Eh, didnt the Roman Empire have a Julian Calender which had 12 months with 365,25 days too...?

The reason for the 7 day week is almost entirely an artifact of ancient Semitic and Christian cultures using it, right?

Yes. We won't really discuss it here (discussion of religion is not allowed), but yes, it has religious roots. It is not based on nature.

I don't like the idea of changing weeks. Everything is built upon it. Everything, from the seasons to the sales to the holidays to schools...it would be such a mind-numbing change I can't imagine how that'd even work.

I don't like the idea of changing weeks. Everything is built upon it. Everything, from the seasons to the sales to the holidays to schools...it would be such a mind-numbing change I can't imagine how that'd even work.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to say the first week of November and have that always be the same set of days every year, though? To know that Halloween would always occur on the same day of the week every year? You would lose the weird variations that cause holidays to be more or less celebratable (a new word I just made) every year. The day that school begins every year wouldn't change dates based on when the Monday occurred. Not sure why seasons would have to be based on a 7 day week either.

'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Damn, I'm so accustomed to the general 5 on, 2 off rhythm that it'd be almost impossible for me to break. Well, I suppose I do for vacations, and I work about one weekend a month, but the general pattern is still lodged in my head.

The reason for the 7 day week is almost entirely an artifact of ancient Semitic and Christian cultures using it, right?

You'd be surprised how quickly you can adapt. I've worked 42 on, 24 off before, and it was fine. Lots of doctors have even crazier schemes.

'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Back in grad school, I had a stretch of about 2 months straight without a day off. I did not adapt

It might be easier to adapt when the difference is so much smaller. You'd have 4 days in a row of work instead of 5, which you already do on holiday weeks anyway, followed by 1 day of rest, then 3 days of work followed by 2 days of rest. That seems like it would feel like less hardship to recover from, not more.

'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

A week seems to be more related to social and personal needs than anything in the natural world. It's served us well marking out a rhythm to productivity and rest for a while, but I think it's finally starting to outlive its usefulness in this form. I don't know about a 10 day week, but I do think expanding it to 8 days and having 3 day weekends would be superior to the current system, and be a more business-friendly way of getting everyone 3 day weekends. 10 seems like it'd feel too long before the next beat in the rhythm. Still, this is the kind of thing that'll never change even if there were all kinds of studies pointing at productivity and/or happiness increases. Just too ingrained.

Back in grad school, I had a stretch of about 2 months straight without a day off. I did not adapt

2 isn't that bad

Originally Posted by Reeve

It might be easier to adapt when the difference is so much smaller. You'd have 4 days in a row of work instead of 5, which you already do on holiday weeks anyway, followed by 1 day of rest, then 3 days of work followed by 2 days of rest. That seems like it would feel like less hardship to recover from, not more.

Eh, I'd rather have 7 on 3 off, that way holidays may make it a 4th off.

It's not like this was a discussable matter like laws, taxes or class changes in a game. No matter how much anyone would like it or who not, it's something we agreed on at the very base of human society, 7 billion people have adapted to it and so it won't be changed unless something drastical happens that makes the change a need. Like, bombing ourselves out of orbit with the result that our entrie day / month / year calculations had to be redone from scratch. Meh.

I thought 7 day weeks were based on the changes in the phases of the moon...

I'd have thought it had something to do with honoring the Sabbath day and keeping it holy, and the whole "on the 7th day he rested" sort of thing.

'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
Or a yawing hole in a battered head
And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
And there they lay I damn me eyes
All lookouts clapped on Paradise
All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!